ASU senior swimmer and team captain Max Laney knows what dedication is.
Laney became an ASU swimming enthusiast before he entered high school.
He first knew that he wanted to swim for ASU when he was 12 years old after observing a sports swimming camp at the Mona Plummer Aquatic Center.
“I think I knew I was going to swim here,” Laney said. “Seeing what was happening in the pool and what the swimmers looked like, I knew I wanted to swim here.”
Freshman year was tough for Laney.
The methods of the coaching staff at the time didn’t fit him and weren’t what he needed to improve.
Despite that, he reached the finals in three events at the Pac-10 Championships in his freshman year.
“As a freshman, the team was really small, and now the team is a lot better than it was four years ago,” Laney said.
In his sophomore season Laney took four seconds off of his 200-yard backstroke time from the previous season. He earned himself a spot on ASU’s all-time list in the 200-yard backstroke in an “A” consolation final with a time of 1:46.99.
During his junior year he earned a career-best in the 100-yard backstroke and became ninth on ASU’s all-time list in that event.
Laney is the perfect example of what ASU wants to see happen with its athletes — consistent improvement over the four years that they train and compete as a Sun Devil.
Laney has improved his times in all of his races since freshman year.
It took dedication and a true passion for his sport to make it through the four years, as Laney had to adapt to several new sets of coaches and different coaching philosophies.
Laney credits the changes he’s seen in his performance during the last five months to the new coaching staff.
“The new coaches this year had a pretty big impact since the suits were banned,” Laney said. “I think that if I was on the same course that I was my junior year with the old coaches that I probably wouldn’t have improved as much as I did this year. The new coaches are definitely a big part of it.”
The current coaching staff takes every practice and race seriously. Laney said what’s made him improve with the current coaching staff is the team’s focus. All of the men on the team look at swimming and everyday practice differently this year.
“We come for a purpose — we do it and we get out,” Laney said. “It’s not ‘Oh let’s just joke around and have fun.’”
Laney has used the same pre-meet warm-up routine at every ASU meet for the last four years.
He swims 200 yards, kicks 100 yards, and repeats the exercise four times for a total of 1200 yards.
He then does 75 yards consisting of a mixture of drill-kicking and swimming, and repeats that twelve times.
“It really gets me focused and into my swimming,” Laney said.
Laney’s personal best in the 200-yard IM is 1:50.31. His best time in the 100-yard backstroke is 49.16, and his best time for the 200-yard backstroke is 1:44.85. His personal record for the 100-yard fly is 49.78.
His four years of hard work are paying off, as he’s still seeing significant improvements in the tail end of his senior season.
In the last dual meet of his Sun Devil career, Laney won first-place in the 200-yard backstroke against UA clocking in at 1:46.79. It was his best time without a suit for that event. He also placed second in the 200-yard IM against the Wildcats.
Laney has enjoyed his time swimming as a Sun Devil.
“It went by fast, faster than I thought it would,” Laney said. “I think I’ve almost gotten everything I could out of it, including a bunch of really close friends on the men’s team. Overall, it’s been really successful.”
The only accomplishment Laney still has to achieve this season is getting an “A” time at Pac-10 Championships next week so he can compete at NCAAs.
“I guess the only accomplishment I have left would be to make NCAA’s at this meet,” Laney said. “I’m really close and I think I’ll go really fast.”
Reach the reporter at nklauss@asu.edu
